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The actress has revealed why she shied away from naked scenes in her career. McDowell now believes it was a bad example to set for her own two daughters and son. "I'm proud of

myself. It shows that I'm still evolving and ready to take chances. I probably should have taken (my clothes) off in my twenties." McDowell said: "I grew up in a conservative

family and, in my generation, most actresses hired body doubles for those scenes. But I had an awakening as to what the human body is, and I didn't want my kids, in their acting, to

feel any shame about their bodies."  There is a naked scene in 1991's The Object of Beauty with John Malkovich, for example, which now appears to have been done with a body double.

The former model revealed her fears at tackling nude and sex scenes later in life to the Love After Love director Russell Harbaugh: "I took my clothes off in front of him and said,

'What do you think?' "He kept saying, 'You are so beautiful, oh that's beautiful, that's beautiful.' It made me calm. Although there is nudity throughout

the whole film, it's done in such an artistic way that it makes the story that much richer because you just feel like you are watching these people's lives."   McDowell was

very clear that this is not always the case for actresses being asked to take off their clothes on camera. She told i newspaper: "I think women have quite often been used in movies as

an object for men. "Nudity in this film feels human and similar in the way male and female bodies are depicted. The forms and the shapes and how we were laying on the bed. It's

shown as being real and a part of life." Along with stars like Helen Mirren, McDowell has been rewriting the rules for women and sexuality in Hollywood. The pair were pictured together

dazzling the crowds at Cannes Film Festival – and laughing uproariously as they did it. McDowell added: "I don't have a problem with looking older. "I think I can play 10

years older and 10 years younger. I think that happens all the time in real life too, depending on how you're feeling. I think you age 10 years when you're sad."